2017 FRIENDS OF THE CAFE + ASHLEY CHRISTENSEN

This year’s Friends of the Café dinner series has been a gratifying success, as we once again have worked with some of the most talented and knowledgeable chefs in the South to raise funds for the Southern Foodways Alliance. Our upcoming dinner will be hosted by James Beard Award-winning chef Ashley Christensen, a longtime friend who has volunteered her time for our dinners in the past.

Alabama Chanin’s relationship with chef Ashley goes back a number of years, as she partnered with us during one of our Makeshift conferences, in a conversation connecting “Love and Raw Materials in Food, Fashion, and Design”. Ashley spends an impressive amount of time and energy on charity work and educational initiatives, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for her community. (Southern Foodways director John T. Edge has estimated that Ashley’s impact on the organization’s bottom line is so substantial that it covers at least one employee’s annual salary.) She also works in outreach programs—everything from child hunger, to arts in education, to participating in the Fatback Collective with her fellow food ambassadors.

All of this reflects Ashley’s embrace of collaborative making. At Alabama Chanin, we share many of the same goals that Ashley holds dear—sourcing responsibly, uplifting our community, elevating makers and creators, developing close relationships with those in our supply chain, and creating spaces where we can celebrate and advance those ideas.

We are excited to announce that we will continue our collaboration with Ashley, creating a capsule collection inspired by her chef’s jacket and sense of style. (Launching next week.)